A LOSER'S BEST HAND
by Linda J
Summary: Yea! I found a way to bring Wolvie into the story after all! Can a woman with no combat experience stand her ground inside Weapon X? And do people with no redeeming qualities, really have no choice?
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the confusion; I had completely forgot that I had started this story out as a PG13 and once I added the steamier scenes, I decided to change the rating altogether to a strong solid R. If you are uncomfortable with reading stories with that strong a rating, my apologizes, and I will be sure to add a ratings warning for those chapters that contain mature sexual content at the top.

Thank you for reading my story and I hope this does not create any serious confusion.

Enjoy.

A LOSER'S BEST HAND

by Linda J.

DISCLAIMER: Most of the characters in this fan fic belong to Marvel Comics; the rest they wouldn't want.

RATING: Mature for strong language, mild violence and sexual content.

SUMMERY: Written within the Wolverine and the X-men universe. A closer look into the Weapon X project which has a habit of abducting mutant recruits. The story tells us of a young mutant code-named Rosetta Stone due to her ability to translated any language she hears or reads and her strange relationship to Sabretooth as well as X23.

Can she bring both these broken mutants hope and the willingness to change their circumstances, or will she be dragged into the same despair that has gripped every misfortunate soul trapped by Weapon X.

PROLOGUE

He strutted down the metallic halls with graceful ease, his dark eyes focused on the locked door ahead, and his teeth tightly clenched. Ever since his last encounter with that damn runt, his teeth seemed clenched all the time. But that old news, and now he about to get his new orders from that pip-squeak Dr. Cornelius. As Sabretooth walked up to the door, it automatically slid open and for a second, as he stepped into the hologram room, he tried to recall the first time he ever spoke to the little shit. Odd, but he had no actual memory of ever meeting the Dr.

"Ech" the giant felinoid silently shrugged his shoulders and stepped up to the platform.

"How good of you to finally make it here, Sabretooth," the bearded man sarcastically quipped. "You kept me waiting..._again."_

"What can I say," Sabretooth mocked, "Had to take a seriously hard shit before I got here. Mess hall's been servin' nothin' but crap lately."

"Stop making excuses! From now on -be on time!" the man barked as he pushed a button on the control panel in front of him, anxious to get this meeting with his disrespectful insubordinate over. Suddenly, in front of Sabretooth was a hologram image of an attractive young woman who looked to be in her twenties. Her long dark hair, pulled back into a pony tail.

"We have an assignment for you," the doctor coolly said. "This young lady is named Rose Andrew's; she was recently discovered by one of our agents in Chicago and her powers may serve us quite well."

"Mumph, so this is another grab and nab;" Sabe grunted with a hint of disappointment.

"That is right, so there is no need to get your claws bloody this time."

"Care tellin' me what her powers are?"

"She is able to comprehend and translate virtually any language she hears or sees written down."

'Great; another egghead.' Sabretooth rolled his eyes, and thought to himself.

"Here's a print out of her last known address and I want this job done quickly, quietly, and professionally this time. No random killing, no throwing cars into busy restaurants and no raping the new recruit! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," he nodded off the doctor and stepped down from the platform, causing the image of Cornelius to disappear.

"Just take all the fun out of my job," he muttered to himself and walked away.

//

CHAPTER 1

_Buzz...buzz...buzz..._ **SMACK! **Rose hit her alarm clock with force. She rolled over hoping she could think of some reason not to get up so early this morning. Then, just as she about to drift back into her dream...

_Meow_; followed by a quick plopping sensation on the bed next to the back of her head and a rub of fur against her shoulder blade. Pandora, her black cat, began to purr softly to get her master's attention.

_Meow?_ The cat politely called again, patiently waiting for a response.

Meow?

"Mmm," the young lady groaned trying to move her body upward. "I promise to give you a whole can of tuna if you let me sleep just another five minutes."

_Meow_

But to Rose, she could have sworn she heard her cat say, "no."

Rose managed to open her eyes and looked around the room. Sure enough, Pandora had crawled up onto her arm and was about to jump over to confront her owner face to face. The sleepy, unmotivated woman sighed. She was beginning to wonder if her cat was actually intelligent enough to understand the concept of, no work, meant no money to move out of this apartment.

"Sometimes I wonder who wants to get out of this dump more? You or me."

Reluctantly she sat up in bed and reached for her glasses on the night stand. This made her cat very pleased and once more Pandora began to purr as she found a comfortable spot, left warm from Rose's body and laid down in her place.

"You brat! So that's how it's gonna be?"

But the black cat offered no response, except for a smug look before closing her eyes to nap and a feigned purr.

"What goes around, comes around Pandora. Even cats have to answer to karma." her master wisely warned her, as she got out of bed and began her day.

With her pink bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, Rose stepped out of her apartment and walked to the bathroom she shared with everyone else in the studio apartment building; a ritual she loathed with a passion. She politely knocked on the door, fully expecting to discover she would once again have to wait her turn, as Mrs. Farris used up every bit of the hot water.

But this time she beat the old woman to the water and this time she would let her wait for the water to heat up again.

Rose grimaced just a bit as she opened the door, wondering what kind of interesting "leavings" she would discover in the toilet this time, or perhaps Mr. Ahmed had once more left a nice pile of soap scum along with his beard trimmings in the sink. This morning however, good fortune looked her way as she noticed the inside and outside of the kamode was clean, the seat was even down and the sink looked reasonably well. Well as clean as is was going to get anyway.

'Wow! I haven't had a day start out this great in ages!' she proudly reminded herself as she took an extra long shower enjoying the hot suds and lather from her bottle of liquid soap, taking time to wash her long curly hair twice and condition it as well.

After a long twenty minute shower and after all the hot water was gone, Rose opened the door to leave the bathroom, just as Mrs. Farris was about to knock. Suddenly she felt a tiny bit guilty for her selfishness, and after hurried hello, she darted into her one room apartment before the old woman would discover that today she would be taking the cold shower.

But once inside, Rose's conscience forgot about the poor woman who was just now discovering that her shower was freezing, and she was happily drying her hair, thinking about the day ahead of her.

She then realized that today was not her day to go into work early, so why had she set the clock? It then dawned on her what today was, as she looked at her sleeping cat who had so rudely taken her place on the bed. This was Pandora's annual check up, which meant a visit to the vet's office.

"Pandora," Rose said with an evil grin, "You're about to meet karma."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Finding Pandora's carrier wasn't that hard, but getting her into it was. Rose was proud of how smart her cat was, but sometimes that intelligence just kind of got in the way of every day life. But, the master is smarter than the pet, or at least this time she was, and with a little trickery of luring Pandora into the cage by pulling along some yarn through the back window of the carrier the playful cat didn't realize where she was heading until it was too late. With a quick shut of the door behind, Pandora was trapped and no longer cared for the yarn as she put on the most pitiful forlorn look as she was carried through the streets of Chicago and onto a bus; she knew where she was going, and she wasn't happy about it one bit.

Rose set the cage next to her and she casually looked around at the others riding along with her. She had got on the bus at one of it's first stops, so there had been a few open seats for her to choose from, but she knew that those seats would quickly fill this time in the morning, as people made their way to work.

The sign, "MUTANTS MUST STAND," really got her angry, and she wondered how many like her, refused to comply, simply because they did not look the part. The rumors and worries of mutant registration began to assault her mind, but she did her best to shake them off. The bus stopped and just as they were about to let on new passengers, someone from outside the bus yelled, "Stop him! He's heading for that bus!"

Everyone turned to look outside when they saw a large, glowing red being, was running from the MRD. The bus driver immediately closed the doors, and stepped on the gas to get away from the situation. People yelled and screamed as they were violently jerked by the sudden motion, and everyone held onto what they could. Rose grabbed Pandora's cage and used her footing to balance herself as best as she could, now that the bus was traveling, and weaving in and out of traffic much faster than it should. Then someone inside the bus yelled, "He's holdin' on, you hafta stop!"

Rose, stood up as best as she could to see what was going on and she could just barely see the glowing red man hanging onto the back corner of the bus. She then heard shots being fired, and she knew it was the MRD.

"Don't they give a crap about anyone in here?" She yelled out to no one in particular, as the bus driver became more and more erratic and started to drive like a maniac. The bus now started to teeter and jostle down the road, bouncing from side to side like a drunken sailor who had lost his sea legs. Rose sat back down holding onto her furry friend's cage on her lap, praying the two would make this out alive when suddenly, there was a deafening noise from out side as bright red heat filled the bus.

Rose closed her eyes, positive she would probably never open them again when she felt her body falling backward as the bus fell onto it's side and bodies were tossed everywhere. She felt the pressure of someone else pressing hard against her, with Pandora's cage caught between her and the stranger. She wasn't even sure if she was breathing, or if she even could because the person on top of her was forcing her get under his body as much as she could.

"Get down!" the stranger harshly growled, pinning her firmly under his body for protection. Rose could feel the intense heat that surrounded her. She felt truly humbled by the sacrifice this stranger had made to protect her from harm, especially when she heard the man on top of her give out a painful yell. Or was it a roar? She wasn't sure what she heard.

Smoke immediately began to choke her breathing; making Rose's eyes and throat burn quite painfully. She over heard someone scream, the gas tank was going to blow any second, and those left alive and conscious began scramble to get out.

The stranger who had shielded her from the first explosion, struggled to his feet and began tearing a hole in the roof of the bus that was now laying on its side with his bare claws. Rose no sooner got her bearings and struggled herself to her feet when the stranger grabbed her by the arm and began to shove her through the hole he made. They got out just seconds before a giant ball of flames shot through the bus, making it jump straight into the air, killing those who had not escaped.

Once more the stranger put himself between Rose and certain disaster as he pushed her to the ground shielding her from the flying glass, metal and burning cinders that sprayed around them. Then he just seemed to pick her up by the back of her shirt and slung her over his shoulder; then began to run down the street through on coming traffic.

'Oh, that's right! I'm a mutant!' Rose realized as she tried to figure out what exactly was going on. 'And he must be one too. We, we need to get out of here and fast, otherwise they're put us away like all the other mutants that end up in the MRD's clutches.'

She suddenly noticed she still had ahold of Pandora's cage. If they could just get away, then everything would be fine; everything would be fine.

The people who had seen the bus topple over and explode, assumed the worst about her and the stranger, as they watched them running away from an accident scene and began to yelling to get the MRD's attention. It was hopeless, she began to think. She was going to spend the rest of her life stuck in a prison or, or...where ever it is they secretly stick mutants like her away for good; and probably this kind stranger too; the poor guy. His life would be over just like hers. Rose then thought how amazing it was that he was able to withstand the blast and still be able to run like a cheetah. She understood that had it not been for him, she could have very easily been one who had not made it out in time; nor would Pandora. She owed him a great deal of thanks, not to mention her life.

Just then, the man found where he wanted to go, went into the alley and started to climb the fire escape using only one hand to climb the fire escape while holding onto her with his other; jumping straight up from one floor to the next. The experience was both exciting and terrifying at the same time, and Rose did everything she could to keep Pandora's cage from flying out of her hands. Finally, they reached the top of the building.

"Almost there," the stranger said, though it sounded like he might have been talking to himself. He took a deep breath, and got a running start before leaping off the roof. Suddenly Rose found herself caught in mid air, about ten stories, between two buildings and she screamed for dear life. They safely landed onto the other building which was a parking garage's top floor, and with a sudden jolt that made Rose fall out of his arms and onto the pavement with a thud.

For a moment she thought for certain she would lose her grasp on the cage. Rose looked up at her rescuer. His long blond hair, his scruffy looking beard, even his entirely gruff facial features made him less then handsome, but even so, she marveled at her hero.

"Get up," he ordered with a scowl. Rose wondered what she had done to make him mad at her. Without hesitation she did so, supposing he was still thinking of their escape. He pointed toward a black hummer parked just a few feet away, taking hold of her arm and roughly leading her to it. "Those mother fucking MRDs can't keep up with the horse power I got under this hood. Get in," was all he told her, and foolishly, she did just as he said, putting Pandora on her lap.

"Can you take me home?" she asked innocently enough, as she peeked in on Pandora and was happy to see her cat still alive though she was curled tightly up looking out with dilated, saucer sized eyeballs. But the stranger offered no reply, instead he reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a large black pistol. She watched him open it up and remove a small syringe. Rose gasped, "What's _that_ for?"

"Well at this close range, shooting it only buries the needle deep into the flesh and that makes it damn near impossible to get out," he calmly explained as he put the gun down and turned toward her.

"Oh I don't think Pandora needs a tranquilizer," Rose nervously explained. "She just needs to get back home."

The stranger looked at her and smirked, "This ain't for the cat," and with that quickly jabbed Rose in the neck with the needle. The drug went to work instantly and she slumped over without a protest.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Sabretooth made it out of Chicago with no trouble of course, and crossed Canadian boarder like he had done a thousand times before. He traveled the back roads of the Canadian countryside that he knew so well, throughout the day; hitting the busier roads for gas only when necessary. He arrived at the newest secret compound about an hour after sunset. He drove the hummer down into the underground garage, and walked out just in time to see Dr. Cornelius heading toward a helicopter; leaving the still an unconscious Rose inside along with her quiet cat Pandora.

"Got the package," was all he had to say to Dr. Cornelius as he walked up to the hurried man.

"What?" the man asked in a distracted tone.

"I got your package," the felinoid repeated irritably.

"Oh, her..." Cornelius said without much thought, as finally recalled what Sabretooth was talking about.

"It's been crazy around here all day; they've cut our funds off again! We've had to send all non-essential personnel home, and as of today everything has been put on hold!" he huffed in excitement.

"I'm on my way to personally speak to the prime minister and remind him how important we are to this nation; hell to the world!" Cornelius then paused long enough to consider his options.

"I simply don't have time to stop for this right now, but..." the pudgy man explained to Sabretooth, as if Sabretooth cared, while giving his red beard a slight scratching. "...she would be very handy to have around."

"What do you want me to do with her then?" Sabe seemed a little disturbed that he had apparently wasted an entire day for nothing.

"Where is she?"

"Still sleeping in the garage."

Finally Cornelius settled in his mind what to do about the situation, which was to shove her off onto Sabretooth. "Well, until I come back, I'm making her, your responsibility."

"Come again?" the felinoid didn't like what he heard, and was sure he misunderstood.

"Look," the Dr. sharply explained in a hurry. "All non-essential personnel has been dismissed. There is no one here to begin her assimilation; there's no one here except your happy bunch to guard the place, and I am leaving -right now. So, you will just have see that our new recruit remains in your custody until we can resume normal, daily operations here. Do I make myself clear?"

Sabretooth's eye's darkened even more and his scowl became quite unpleasant to look at. "So now you got me babbysittin' frails?"

But Cornelius wasn't hearing any of it. He walked away, leaving Sabretooth growling to himself.

Rose never heard the foot steps coming up to her side of the car, or even heard the door open. She was out cold and no where near waking up.

"Oh, they're just _adorable_ when they asleep," a man wearing a red mask and body suit, clasped his hands together in mock admiration. "But the instant they wake up and start nagging; _'You never take me anywhere; we never talk; you never buy me things...' _they always do you know."

"How would you know?" Maverick folded his arms, starring hard at Deadpool, expecting another one of his famous wisecracks.

"I know all about women!" the young man insisted with confidence. "Well, I used to. I think I did, I wanna say I did. I had a life once. I...I kinda remember having a life once. Didn't I have a life once? Say" Deadpool then reached inside the car and picked up the carrier and looked inside.

"Why did he bring back a cat?"

"Shut it, Mouth!" Sabretooth growled from behind. Both of his team mates turned to see him stomping up to the car, looking more pissed than normal.

"Can we keep her?" Deadpool chirped in a perky tone.

Sabretooth's teeth clinched. "I told you Mouth; women ain't nothin' but trouble. You fuck 'em and you throw 'em away. That's all they're good for."

"I was asking about the cat," Deadpool softly explained in sarcasm.

Sabretooth glanced down at the cage. He had pretty much ignored the animal caught in the cage, that he all but forgot about it being there.

He shrugged his shoulders slightly, "Use it for target practice, for all I care."

Maverick, the most mentally stable of the team, spoke up. "Well, do you mind telling us who the woman is and why is she here?"

"Her name is Rose, and until operations resume around here," the felinoid began to grin like the cheshire cat. "She's _your_ responsibility."


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

It was now well after midnight and the three men sat around a table in the small mess hall playing yet another hand of poker. They had been there for most of the evening, and likely would be there until well into the next day. Each man had his turn running a short winning streak, but no one was actually ahead at the moment. Though, to listen to Deadpool, he was on his way to becoming the next world poker champion.

He had won his third game in a row and was collecting his chips when he glanced over to the monitors to see Rose asleep in a containment room. "How much to you give her, Sabe? Did you think she was an elephant or something?"

The larger man just snorted a bit and glanced over at the monitor for a second himself. "I wanted to make sure the frail wasn't gonna wake up and start squawkin' on the way back here."

"You do know Sabretooth, people have ODed on that stuff?" Maverick asked as he dealt out the next hand.

"I keep a defibrillator in the car," Sabretooth coldly assured him as he looked at his hand.

"You're a regular Mother Teresa," Deadpool mocked as all three studied their hands and calculated their next moves.

From the corner of his eye, Sabe saw the woman begin to move. "Well you can stop worryin'; the frail's wakin' up."

Both Deadpool and Maverick took a quick look at the monitor and then back to the hands. Deadpool smiled broadly as he thumbed his cards with confidence. "OK ladies, I'll open up with twenty."

xxx

The first thing Rose noticed about her new surroundings was how much chillier it was than what she liked. In fact it was probably the coolness of the air that made her wake up so completely. That, and the sudden memories of what happened to her that morning flooded her mind.

She shot up and looked around the room. Drab gray cement walls and floor, no furniture except for her tiny uncomfortable bed. A pillow that was really no bigger then a sponge only not as fluffy. She stood up and instinctively looked for her glasses, but it's not like there was any place for them to be, except maybe the floor. Then she noticed, and was deeply pleased, to see Pandora's cage was in the room, with its door open.

She knelt down to get a look into the cage, but the sudden movements made her head spin. She now noticed how much her head was throbbing and how strung out she felt. A little nauseous too, and she wished she had something to drink. Rose went ahead and knelt all the way down, laying herself on the cold floor and peered inside the cage. To her great relief, she saw her black cat balled up tightly, her eyes still large and fully dilated.

"Pandora," her master called out to her softly and reached in to pull her out. The black cat was in no way eager to come out, and meowed very loudly in protest, but never the less she let Rose pick her up and bring her close to her chest.

Rose slowly stood up and held Pandora close, stroking her for reassurance. "What have we got ourselves into?"

Just then, the door opened up and on the other side were two men she had never seen before. One man was very nice looking, practically Herculean and wore every day clothes, while the other wore a mysterious red mask and body suit.

"Are...you the MRD?" was the only logical guess she could make under the circumstances.

Both men gave each other supercilious smirk. Deadpool freely spoke up as he walked into the room. "Think of us like this; the MRDs are cub scouts; pre-school level cub scouts. Still in diapers and crying for the mama's -cub scouts, and we're the Navy Seals -only better than the Navy Seals. W-a-y better."

"Oh, well...then, who are you guys?"

Deadpool stiffened his posture to a military stance and began to speak in a snobbish tone of voice. "Welcome, Madam, to Hotel Hell. My name is Wade but you may call me Deadpool. The gentlemen behind me is David, also known as Maverick; consider us as your concierge. If there's anything we can do to make your stay with us a pleasant one...please...hesitate to ask."

For a moment Rose just stood there quietly stroking her pet, then a slow and gradual smile came across her face. She began to chuckle a bit. "I know what happened; I fell and hit my head in the shower; that's got to be it! Or...maybe...this... has all has been a terrible nightmare?"

She began rambling onto herself, giving herself false hope. "Maybe there's a gas leak in my apartment...I bet I'm still in my bed and I just need to wake up," she kept telling herself. "Come on Rose, wake up now, wake up!"

The two men just stood there; this would have been funny if they hadn't already seen dozens of other abducted mutants do and say exactly the same things she was.

Wade then leaned over to Maverick and whispered, "Next, it will be the 'I died' routine."

Sure enough, Rose began to muttering something about being dead. She was almost to the point of hyperventilating when Maverick decided enough was enough. He stepped in and tried to calm her down.

"Rose," he said her name firmly. "Rose Andrews; that's you name isn't it? Here, you probably want these."

The handsome, muscular man reached into one of his pockets and pulled out her wire framed glasses.

Rose stopped to catch her breath and took back her glasses, eager to put them on. "Yes, but...how did you know that?"

"Actually we know more than you would think. For instance, we know of your powers," he calmly explained.

Rose seemed honestly confused, "I don't have any powers."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are able to understand any spoken language right?

"

"And written," Deadpool quickly added. "I think that happens to be a nice bonus."

Cautiously she nodded, "But I really don't see that as any kind of _power._"

"Well they must be powerful enough to our attention; otherwise you won't be here." Maverick spoke up in a dead certain tone.

"Oh," Rose almost whispered, as what Maverick had told her settled into her mind.

"I see. Tell me something; what part did that man who rescued me, have to do with all this?"

Both Deadpool and Maverick turned to give each other a confused look.

"Rescue? Sabretooth rescued you?" Maverick had to make sure he heard her clearly.

"You mean the big guy; about the size of a locomotive? Looks like a lead guitar player of a big hair band that never made it very big. OH! and always looks like he's got a permanent case of constipation?" Wade was making sure there was no mistake who she was talking about.

Rose thought about his comments, "I think so..?"

"Well actually, he had a lot to do with bringing you here. It was his mission to bring you here, because he's pretty good at getting in and out of places in a hurry." Maverick explained as best as he could.

Rose then looked hopelessly around the room. "So is this my...cell?"

"Well we had to put you somewhere," he smiled. "But the door's not locked. Never was."

Suddenly Rose felt a tiny bit better.

"The only time we bring people in, is when they are wanted by the government; so until we know exactly what is going on with you, we have to ask that you stay here on the compound."

"So, I am being detained?" Rose asked, as her brief moment of ease, quickly evaporated.

"Yes, but so long as you stay where we can see you, then we'll let you have at least a little bit of freedom to enjoy."

Then David quickly added this warning. "But stay where we can see you; otherwise there won't be much to enjoy."


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Sabretooth took a long drink and swallowed hard, he had that far away look, as he sat alone in the mess hall, recalling yet another bitter, painful memory. He glanced at the large analog clock that hung above the mess hall door way; it was 4:30 in the morning. Normally, Sabretooth was already here at this time of the day any way, and normally it was this quiet. By the time the regular staff would be coming in, he was either in the gym, or assisting the Dr. with the new recruits. But Sabretooth knew today was going to be very long, and very boring.

For a moment, he entertained the idea of leaving the compound and find a little town to raise some hell. It's not like there was anyone to stop him, or anything to keep him here.

He considered the idea.

He took another long drink and swished the beer around in his mouth just a bit, then, just as he swallowed, a scent that he was not excepting to smell, began to tickle his nostrils. He knew the guys had gone to 'welcome' their guest, and for whatever reason decided to show her around, but why bring her here? This whole thing went against standard procedure, and even though he never saw himself as a 'company man,' he really felt uncomfortable seeing the rules of the house being so casually tossed aside, simply because there was no one with any real authority on site.

They walked in together, looking rather chummy considering the circumstances and had the nerve to sit at the same table! Sabe just glared at them for a moment, then his attention went straight to the black cat that was now perched comfortably on David's lap, enjoying her coat being stroked.

The feral, growled softly, just to let everyone know he wasn't happy.

"Oh jealous much, sweety?" Wade joked with a fake lisp.

Sabretooth's growl only got louder. "Why is she out of her cell?"

"She's _our_ responsibility isn't she?" Maverick was quick to remind him. "We say she's free to roam around; so is Pandora."

Sabretooth couldn't tell him way he knew this was a bad idea, Maverick was unaware how most recruits were forced into serving the faculty. Letting this woman get comfortable with her surroundings before they broke her spirit, spelled disaster. But as badly as he hated what was happening with her, if he pushed the situation too hard, then Maverick might start to ask questions, and that would be an even bigger disaster.

Sabretooth tipped his beer up and drank the rest in one gulp, slamming the bottle down and grabbed another one, the last one in the cooler without muttering a sound.

Rose grinned a little, looking nervously at Sabretooth and tried to clear her throat. "Sabretooth," she quietly spoke his name before she took another deep breath.

"I...just wanted to say thank you," she didn't look at the other men, but she was sure they couldn't believe what she had just said.

"Well, not for bringing me here of course...but for saving me and Pandora this morning, or, well, I guess it's now yesterday morning," she paused for a moment, waiting for him to perhaps say something. She waited; then continued.

"I know that I probably owe you my life, in spite of where I ended up," her voice began to drag into depression. She then heard how depressing she sounded, and quickly tried to sound perkier, "...but I'm very grateful for that! I and Pan..."

Sabretooth sneered at her, and stretched across the table so he could get in her face. He pointed one of his huge talons straight at her nose to make his point crystal clear. "I don't give two shits about you! You got that? It was my job to bring you here in one piece; that's all. If I had been sent to kill you, I would have done just that, and just as easy. Do I make myself clear?"

Rose's jaw dropped a bit, but she came back with a quick response. "That might be true, but....even so, you still saved my life. I mean...firemen and cops they basically took the jobs for the pay checks, yet, when one of them saves someone, they get in the news, they get medals, they get the glory; I just want to say thank you."

She looked hard into his eyes, hoping there was a hint of softness, but none could be seen in that sea of blackness. Once again she stressed the point. "Thank you."

No one dare say a word at this point as they all waited to see the brute's reaction. Finally, he stood up and just stormed out of the room without a word, the room stayed silent as the door closed behind him.

"You learn to love him," Wade kindly assured Rose. "Oh, wait a minute, I was thinking of my dear old uncle Thaddeus. Never mind."

"What exactly..._is_ this place?" she found herself wanting to change the subject altogether.

"We take mutants who have used their unique abilities in a way that endangers others and we give them the chance to do something useful with their lives." Maverick openly explained thinking it was the whole truth.

"But...I didn't use my _abilities_ in any way to harm others! I mean seriously, how could I? All I can do is listen to people. That's it!"

"Or read the funnies in a Chinese newspaper," Deadpool quickly added. "How safe can that be?"

Rose just looked at him strangely; she wasn't sure if he was genuine or once again sarcastic, then she looked back at Maverick only to see he wasn't believing her story one bit. It seemed like she was talking to a brick wall. She sighed; suddenly her one room apartment, sharing a dingy bathroom and cold showers didn't seem so bad.

"Do you think I could find some milk for Pandora here?" she asked as she looked around the mess hall.

"Milk? balch!" Wade remarked.

"Help yourself to the frig; there are a couple of them in the room back there," David pointed to a door that was behind a long metallic table where buffet trays and serving pans of food would normally be placed out for the soldiers and personnel working or living here to eat.

Rose then began to realize by the size of the room, there should be more people here. "When does everyone else get here?"

"Well if this were ordinary circumstances, they would be rolling in right about now. In fact, on an ordinary day, there are several soldiers stationed here 24/7." Maverick hoped she wouldn't ask more then he actually knew.

"Oh...well what makes this an unordinary day?" Rose wondered eagerly.

"From what we gather..." Deadpool jumped in, "...money."

"Money?" she repeated in disbelief.

"Of course money! Do you have any idea how expensive an operation like this costs the government?" Deadpool proudly explained.

"Yeah, I'm sure it costs a fortune to take people out of their homes and lives for no good reason," she couldn't help point out.

"You said you give us, "_threats to society,"_ a chance to redeem ourselves; what exactly does that mean."

"You've seen comic books with their heros and villains right?" Deadpool happily explained. "Well that's pretty much what we're talking about, for real. I mean really real. You see we're all just comic book heros in a comic book world and that's what we do; comic book hero stuff, or, some times villain type stuff; it depends on how you look at it."

For a moment or two, no one said a word, trying to figure out if Wade was seriously mentally ill, or just fooling.

"It's fun!" he concluded.

Rose slowly began to smile; if she was a prisoner, at least her captors made things entertaining. "So, I can walk around the place on my own?"

"As long as you don't abuse the privilege."

"Well, in that case, after I get Pandora some milk, I'd like to make up a bed for her. Where do you keep pillows and stuff?"

"There's a room down the hall to the left, help yourself." Maverick set Pandora down on the floor and stood. "I'm going to my room. Rose, it has been a pleasure meeting you, and I am sure I'll see you some time later today."

Pandora followed Rose into the kitchen area and eagerly lapped up the milk from a saucer her master had laid down for her. In the mean time, Rose found a pile of dish rags and decided to use them to make Pandora's bed instead. Her cat had no trouble getting comfortable and curled up for a good hardy nap. Rose looked the kitchen over, and frankly wasn't that impressed. She had dreamed of someday working as a chef in a fine five star restaurant, but this place was definitely _not_ a five star restaurant by any stretch of the imagination. By the time she walked out of the kitchen area, she had been left completely alone.

'Now, if I am allowed to wonder...' she thought to herself.

xxx

Rose had gone down every corridor and had checked every "door" she found only to find most of them locked or the room empty. 'Well, no wonder they gave me freedom to roam; the whole place is basically a prison.'

Just then she heard some noise in the distance. She followed the sound and soon realized she was heading to the gym. The door was open and she saw Sabretooth inside, lifting weights on a very intimidating looking machine. She walked in quietly, not realizing he was already aware of her presence. She stood there for only second, when he abruptly stopped and grabbed his towel to wipe his face and got up to leave. But just as he passed her on the way out, in a gruff almost growling voice he said, "If someone was so grateful, they'd bake a pie."

Rose stood there for a moment, feeling as if she had been challenged and smiled. 'Maybe they would, Sabretooth. Maybe they would.'


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Sabretooth looked around the room with his hands on his hips. He'd been here in the Assimilation Room dozens of times, watching the "mad" scientists work their magic while he stood guard for safe keeping. It was his intention to bring the new recruit here and erase her memory himself, since obviously Cornelius had left everything up to him.

He walked over to the gurney and checked the cabinet for the needles, IV bags, and of course the proper drugs needed for the procedure, assuring himself this much of the process he knew by heart. Even though he had never done more than just hold a recruit down, sticking needles into veins looked like child's play. This part of the job would be a piece of cake.

Then he turned around and leaned over the backside of the console to closely look at the control panel with all it's little buttons, switches, and knobs. He tried to mentally recall the steps that he had seen done a thousand times, and felt pretty sure he could do this himself too. But where he was nearly clueless was what to enter into the computer. He stopped for a moment, realizing the consequences of what would happen if he got this, or any other part of the procedure wrong. Even he had hesitations about his plans, but he felt there was little else to do.

It was bad enough a frail was running amuck, but a civilian? Why not just open the damn place up as a tourist attraction?

He then walked around and stood over the control panel and closed his eyes, raising his hands above the panel, imagining where they would go if he was really going through with this. He tried to remember what every step was, one by one, but the more he thought about it, the more he understood this wasn't going to happen. He opened his eyes and dropped his hands to his sides; a look of frustration came over his face. Even he couldn't bring himself to throw someone on the gurney only to turn them into a vegetable.

He left the Assimilation Room in a huff.

The thought to finding a nice bunch of innocent civilians to terrorize was sounding better all the time, when to his surprise, his nose was filled with a sweet savory smell that made his mouth water. 'The frail really did it!'

Sabretooth walked into the mess hall just as Rose was setting down a nice warm apple pie on the table, where they had played cards the night before. She smiled brightly at him, pleased to know that the smell of food had brought the felinoid to her.

"I made some fresh coffee too," she chirped and turned to get them some.

Sabretooth walked over to the table to get a closer look. Rose had done a nice job on the pie; Sabretooth especially like the nice touch of writing his name across the top of the whole pie with white icing. He sniffed the aroma carefully, trying to detect any poison she may have found to add to the ingredients, and unless she had found some really special odorless toxin in the back, he was sure the pie was safe. But then again he was naturally immune to nearly everything, so there were no real worries. He had to admit, he was a little bit pleased with what she had done; there was only one problem he found with the pie. He continued to stare down at the pie with a critical eye. "You spelled my name wrong."

"What?" she asked in disbelief, as she set the carafe of coffee and the two cups down on the same table; his name might be long, but easy enough to spell.

"Yeah," he turned his head and gave her a stern look. "R-E...not E-R; My name is Sab-"RE"-tooth, not sab-"ER"-tooth.

"Oh," Rose accepted the criticism now that she heard him pronounce his name the way he spelled it. "Well, I can wipe it off, but it won't look very nice."

Sabretooth's response was to simply stick his hand into the pie and dig out a sloppy chunk even as it was still steaming opened his huge mouth and dropped the chunk in whole. He then gave her a quick wink, then sat down to finish of the pie on chunk at a time.

Rose sat across the table from him, poured each of them a cup without asking. Eagerly he grabbed it and took a healthy gulp of the hot liquid then licked his lips.

"So frail...wanna see what we wanted you for?"

Slowly, she nodded her head. She couldn't help but feel like she was about to do something she would live to regret.

xxx

After he had finished his pie, they got up and went outside to another building altogether. He opened the door for her with his access code, and as they walked in the lights turned on their own. Rose could hardly believe her eyes, hundreds, maybe thousands of small TV monitors filled every wall in the room. Inside the room was a very comfortable looking chair, a set of head phones, and a console which looked like something you would find inside Skywalker Ranch.

"Wow!" she walked further into the room. "Let me guess, a guy put this together?"

"Watch this," Sabe proudly said as he picked up a remote and clicked a button. Suddenly, every monitor lit up. One wall was dedicated to nothing but news networks from all over the world; another appeared to be security monitors of famous sites around the world. The rest were...she had no clue what they were watching, but there were a few that Rose was positive were private. Sabretooth saw her eyes fixated on one monitor in particular and watched her face go from some what shocked to mildly disgusted.

"Are we supposed to see _that_?" she pointed to the monitor in question. Sabretooth glanced over to see what she was referring to and chuckled.

"Those guys in parliament, sure know how to party huh? You shoulda seen this guy last week; there was two girls, some other guy and a monkey too!"

Rose threw up in her mouth a little; she wanted to stop watching, but like watching a bad train wreck she couldn't turn away from the repulsive sight. Just when she thought she was getting used to the "show", the woman in the monitor brought out a whip and starting doing things with it that Rose never imagined whips could be used for.

"You would think that hurts," she quietly whispered to herself, cocking her head to the side, as if looking at it from another angle would make a difference.

"What's wrong, frail? Not into S&M?" he teased with an vicious grin.

"No!" the woman flatly admitted with certainty.

Sabretooth then leaned in close enough to touch her hair with his chin. "Don't knock it until you've tried it."

"I'll pass."

Sabretooth could have played this game all day, but he chose to let it go, and turned off the X-rated show, so he could show her what she would most likely be doing for the rest of her life.

He handed her a remote and told her to sit down in the chair. "Just point this at any of the screens, and you can turn up the sound, or change the channel if needed, but at first I suggest you don't dick with channels. Just monitor what you hear and listen for interesting things that might be of help to us."

"A help to us?" she repeated dryly. "What exactly would be _a help to us_?"

Sabretooth could only glare as he repeated her sarcasm. "Stuff that would save the fuckin' world."

Rose was beginning to wonder if Deadpool wasn't the only one caught up in a comic book world; and at the moment, she felt as if she was caught up in one herself. "Save the fuckin' world. got it. One more question Sabretooth; um, how do I know what stuff will save the fuckin' world?"

"Try guessing," Sabe gave one of his growls as a warning. "Look frail, just play with your new toy for now; get used to it. As soon as the brainiacs come back, you can meld into that little cliche and they'll tell you what to do."

From her chair, Rose saluted him in mockery, "Yes sir."

Sabretooth turned to walk away. 'They're gonna have a hard time rubbin' out that attitude of hers; I see that already."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Rose sat in her chair like a good little prisoner, trying to figure out what she had done to attract the government's attention, (this was the US government right?) and how was she going to get away when she didn't even know how to drive a car. Maybe she could find a 10 speed just lying around the place? ...Right.

But Rose wasn't going to give up. 'I think the only way I'm going to get out of this place is if I get these guys to take me somewhere more public. Maybe then I could slip away somehow; just run like hell into a crowd of people. But, if the government is after me, then I should go somewhere way far away. Maybe...Europe? That might work. I hope I can get Pandora out of here too. I'm sure I will think of something.'

She knew that it would be a lot easier to trick three muscle brain bozos then it would be to trick a bunch of 'brainiacs", as Sabretooth had called them; too bad she had no clue when they would return. A frustration she and Sabretooth both shared. If she had any hope of getting away, she better think of something quick. Rose had a bad feeling that if she waited too long, she'd never get away.

She continued to work on this puzzle in her mind as she casually watched the many, many...many monitors in front of her. She completely ignored Sabretooth's advice and changed the channels as she pleased. If she was captured for the sole purpose of becoming a professional couch, or more precisely, an easy chair -potato, then she was going to do it her way.

'Nope,' click went the remote to another channel.

'Nope,' another, and still another.

'Seen it; seen it; oh there's a buy-one-get-one-half-price-sale at payless shoes store! Hmmm...nope.' click...

The TV landed on an old episode of Hogan's Heros and she stopped on it for only a moment and thought, 'I wonder if I would have thought this was funny, if I had been around forty years ago.'

Suddenly, something besides the remote "clicked," and the wheels in her mind began to turn.

'Well they DO think they're in a comic book world; OK maybe just one of them think that way, but if I can convince him, then maybe he can convince the others and...'

Rose sighed, wondering what would happen to her, if she wasn't able to escape before they figured out they had been duped. Then again, she felt like she had to do something...

If she waited for everything to be perfect, she might very well be waiting her whole life. She decided it was worth a shot and went to find her three captors.

xxx

"So now that we don't have any cooks on staff," Deadpool asked with his hands on his hips, "should we order out for pizza?"

"Whadda say Sabe," Maverick joked as the three stood around in the mess hall. "We get the pizza, you eat the delivery guy?"

Sabe snorted a bit, he always found joking around harder than it looked; but this time seemed easy enough to play along. "Don't think so, the last delivery boy I ate was so stoned. that after I ate him, I was high for at least five minutes."

His team mates chuckled politely; at least he was trying to be funny.

"Um guys...?" Rose walked in on them, doing her best to look as natural, but look as naturally concerned as she could. She cursed the fact that the best grade she ever made in Drama was a D-.

"You know how you told me to find things that would save the world right...?"

Both Maverick and Deadpool gave Sabretooth an odd glance.

"Save the world?" Maverick repeated.

Rose nodded, "Yeah, well I think I found something."

Sabretooth sniffed the air and gave her a stern glare. "What's got you scared frail?"

"Well, I don't really know what I'm doing here, but I think you might want to know what I heard some guys in Germany talking about."

"Germany huh?" Sabretooth gave her a thoughtful look. "So what did you hear frail?"

Rose took a deep breath.

'It's show time,' she thought to herself.

"Well...there were a couple of guys at a cafe...and they were talking about this "time machine" one of them had invented;" she looked at each of them, to see how they were reacting to her story. As far as she could tell, they each appeared to be listening with interest.

"Well...ap-parently, he had success with it...and now they are talking about using it to go back in time and see to it that Germany wins the war."

Maverick nodded his head, "Sounds serious."

Rose's eyes grew wide. "Y-yes, yes it is; very serious!"

"Yeah," Deadpool stood there shaking his head, "there's nothing more dangerous to the safety of the free world then a German scientist who's still loyal to the third Reich."

Rose pushed her luck and added a little more spice to the story. "I didn't get an idea when they plan to do this; who knows...maybe they're working on it right now! If you guys really do things like save the world, then shouldn't we go to Germany right now and try to stop them, or...something?"

"We?" Sabretooth snorted. "What makes you think we'd take you along, frail?"

Rose now knew she was skating on thin ice. If she sounded too eager they might suspect something, so she had to soft sell it. "I think maybe I should come with you guys; you know, in case you need a translator."

Sabretooth shock his head and walked to stand over her, "All of us know a little German; I've had a home there myself for decades. I know," he considered with an evil grin.

"How 'bout I stay behind and keep an eye on you. Maybe we can watch some more Tv together?"

Rose tried to persist. "But I really think I should come with you guys, I know I can be of help to you guys; I know I can!"

For a second or so, everyone just glanced around at each other, then all at once, the men burst out laughing.

"Time machine...classic!" Deadpool roared with laughter. "Gotta hand it to you Rose; at least you made us laugh."

Rose's spirits hit the floor. "What!? Y-y-you don't believe me?"

Even Sabretooth began to laugh. "Hell no, frail. We don't believe you; besides what did you think you would do if we took you to Germany? Run away? HA!"

His laughter sounded like a tiger gasping for air.

Rose's spirit was now well passed the floor and somewhere in the basement by now.

"We're not idiots, Rose," Maverick explained with a grin on his face as well. "We knew you would try to get away from here; hell everyone tries at first. We just didn't realize you'd be so creative with it. Why didn't you just try to steal or helicopter?"

She gave Dave an angry glare and spat, "Because I don't know how to fly one!"

"Well, why didn't you just take a car?" Deadpool wondered sarcastically, but the daggers in her eyes pretty much gave her answer away.

"Oh...can't drive either?" he mocked a sympathetic tone.

"Well you c'n walk...why didn't you try to just _walk _away from here?_" _Sabretooth added his own salt to the wound.

Rose felt like she could cry, but wasn't about to give these jerks the satisfaction of seeing her tears. Instead she looked for Pandora, picked her up and in a huff she turned around to leave. "Fine, I'll just go back to my TV room."

The three men stood around for a moment enjoying the joke, when Sabretooth's communacom buzzed. He walked out of the mess hall and looked at the screen. It was the Professor. A sudden sense of both relief and disgust came over him at once, as he pondered what the little bald cock sucker wanted.

Sabretooth swallowed hard and answered the call, "Yeah..."

"Well Sabretooth, handling everything on your own are you?" the man taunted. "How is it going? Any fires I should know about?"

"I wouldn't think you're one for small talk," Sabretooth growled unpleasantly. "Mind tellin' me what the fuck is goin' on with this money problem?"

"And I wouldn't think you were one for thinking at all, Sabretooth," the thin bald man smirked just so, then casually went on to his intended subject. "Cornelius mentioned something about a new recruit."

Like a well programmed robot, Sabretooth offered up the truth. "I brought her in before the Dr. could take a look at her."

Professor Thornton ran his tongue over his false teeth. "We're in the process of down sizing Sabretooth; no need for you to worry however. Men with your...qualifications, are hard to come by. Tell me, is she worth keeping?"

Sabretooth's opinion was often valued when it came to summing up new recruits; an honor he was very proud of. "She's no good for combat, even if she was trained, I can tell she just don't have it in her to kill. But...as for a snoop," he slowly began to shake his head, "she'd be pretty damn good."

The Professor still wasn't satisfied. "Bring her here in the morning, and I'll have a look at her myself to see whether or not she is worth keeping."

Sabretooth didn't bother to respond, he knew the professor didn't need to hear his compliance.

Sabretooth felt a twinge of sadness however; very much like having to hand over a newly found toy. He walked back to the mess hall, which was now empty again, and went to the frig. He grabbed a six pack of beer and found some cold chicken left in a take-out bucket. He headed back to Rose's "TV room," as she called it and opened the door.

'Don't hafta get her there until tomorrow morning; I got more than enough time to get me some, before I had her over to the Professor.'


	8. Chapter 8

//THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MATURE, THOUGH NOT EXPLICIT MATERIAL. IT IS IN MY OPINION THIS DESERVES A HARD "R" RATING. PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS ABOUT READING SEXUAL CONTENT.//

CHAPTER 8

Rose was sitting in her chair, sulking over her foiled attempt to escape, when

he walked in. She looked up long enough to see Sabretooth's proud expression and

groaned. She said nothing to him however, nor did he offer her any explanation

as to why he was here. He glided into the TV room with all the coolness of a

lion returning to his den and glanced over to the monitors to see what had her

full and undivided attention.

He sneered when he realized she was actually watching some kind of kiddie

oriental animation show; an anime he barely recalled was their literal name.

"Why the hell are you wastin' yer time watchin' that kiddie crap?"

Rose sighed heavily and seriously thought about ignoring him. "The show's called

'Avatar; the Last Airbender'. It's really quite good."

The felinoid scrunched his nose in complete distaste. "It's a cartoon."

"It's a very well written story line; with exceptional art work and very nicely

defined, believable characters!" she insisted with a huff.

"It's a fuckin' cartoon!" he strongly objected. Then without warning, he

snatched the remote and began flipping through the channels. His sly smile

broadened when he found what he was looking for. Now it was Rose's turn to

disapprove what was on the TV.

"The jazz channel?" she dryly remarked. "I hardly believe this would your taste

in music."

"See what happens when you judge a book by it's cover?" he coolly mused as he

turned the volume down, now that the station had gone to commercial break,

"That's how it always seems to go, ay?" he set the remote down took out a beer

for himself. "You finally find somethin' worth a damn and they go to

commercials."

He then held out the bucket of chicken for Rose to grab a piece, only to have

her turn her nose. "No thank you; I'm a vegetarian."

The giant man just snickered a bit, taking out a big bite of the thigh he had

taken out of the bucket of himself. "I doubt that your ancestors clawed their

way to the top of the food chain just so their off spring could be vegetarians,"

he mocked.

"So tell me frail," he then held out a beer to her. "You got a problem with

killin` suds?"

"No..." at first she mocked him, but quickly changed her tune.

"Um...thanks," she hesitated slightly before taking it from his hand. She

remembered she had not had any desire for food during the day, and drinking on

an empty stomach always gave her a quick buzz. But, the last thing she wanted to

do, was offend this big jerk, so accepting his generosity may not be such a bad

idea.

Rose noticed the cap was still on the beer, but no sooner did she take it from

his hand that he yanked it right back from her and twisted the cap off.

"Here frail, let me get that for you," he said condescendingly.

He then handed it back with that same sly grin creasing over his savage

features. "Thang...wait," she finally took notice to this 'pet name' he had for

her, as well as how his greasy hands/paws made her bottle. She tried to wipe the

grease from the bottle on her pant leg. "Why do you always call me that?"

"What? Frail?" He took another bite of meat, nearly cleaning the bone with just

those two bites, then washed it down with a long chug of his beer. "...`cause ya

are one."

"Oh," she quietly pondered what exactly he meant by that, as she took her first

sip of beer. It was cold and it did hit the spot; maybe a little too well she

thought to herself, as she took another sip, then another one. Sabretooth took a

long swig of his and put the empty bottle down on the console as he turned the

sound up now that they were playing music once again.

"You like this song?" the cat-man happily purred as he threw down the chicken

bone and took her by the hand, making her get up out of her seat. He pulled her

closer to him as he shifted his feet around a bit, and took her by the waist.

The whole thing was a bit surreal for rose, as this brutish man twirled her

around gently and continued to sway and step to the music. Then, Sabretooth

softly sang along with the words, half purring as he did.

"Well, it's a marvelous night for a Moondance

With the stars up above in your eyes

A fantabulous night to make romance

`Neath the cover of October skies"

"The singer's name is Van Morrison," he spoke up while looking into her eyes.

"Probably before yer time huh?"

"I think I might have heard this on the oldies station once," she frankly

admitted as they slowly danced to the song."

"Oldies station?" He chuckled a bit, "You trying to make me feel old or

somethin'?"

Rose chuckled a little too; she was beginning to realize that the beer was

starting to go to her head. She found herself enjoying the melody of the song

and even the feel of Sabretooth's strong embrace. Maybe it was the beer, or

maybe there was some truth to that "Stockholm Syndrome" crap, but one thing Rose

knew for sure, she was starting to feel down right horny, and Sabretooth was

starting to look pretty damn good.

Her captor must have sensed this, by the way he rolled his eyes back, as his

nostrils widened; deeply inhaling her scent. She was looking up into his face,

just as he looked down into her eyes once more and bent down to gently kissed

her on the mouth. Suddenly they stopped dancing as he plunged his tongue deeper

into her mouth.

Rose couldn't help but moan with pleasure and His response to her moan, was to

lift her up, so she could wrap her legs tightly around his mid-section. He broke

the kiss to look into her eyes as he removed her glasses, and put them in his

coat pocket. Her breath was shallow and she could feel her thighs were literally

getting hotter by the moment.

She could feel his talons press into her skin, but she was too timid to mention

the discomfort and instead, chose to bury her head deep into his chest. She

thought it odd that even though she was unable to speak up about the mild pain

she felt from his hard talons, she had no trouble reaching up to kiss him on his

mouth.

For a second or two he just stood there holding her, letting her make every next

move. Over and over she kissed his mouth while he playfully followed her tongue

with his. Then, just as she felt as if she was going to have an orgasm right

then and there, she whispered aloud what she had only intended to be a thought,

"Please tell me a woman can have sex with you and not require medical attention

afterwards."

The passion between them was broken, but only for a moment as he now gladly took

over the control. Sabretooth broke into a snicker as his black eyes shined

brightly as he gave her another cheshire cat smile. "So..." he kissed her,

gently nipping her lips as he went on. "You don't think I can be gentle?"

Rose sighed, partly to release her pleasure as well to clear her head; then

through trembling lips she softly explained, "It's not a question if you can be

gentle Sabretooth, but will you?"

"Mmm," he seemed pleased by this explanation and even began to purr once more.

"Oh, I can be REAL gentle," he continued to purr as he carried her to the chair

and set down, with her straddling his lap. He fondled her breast with a cupped

hand for just a moment, then quickly removed her t-shirt altogether. Her bra was

made of bright pink lace, which he found quite enticing. He lifted her bra for a

moment as he playfully rolled his tongue over and around her nipples, then

quickly covered them under her lacy bra. Sabretooth started to gradually scoot

further down into the chair, while his tongue left a wet trail along her

abdomen. Rose quickly caught onto what he was planning, so as he continued his

journey downward she continued to raise her self up.

She never thought to resist him, as he shamelessly unsnapped her jeans and

slowly unzipped them, then began tugging them down far enough for him to get a

good look at her pink laced thong. He twisted the band of her thong around his

fingers and let it snap back in place just before he began to kiss and nibble

her lower abdomen; inching oh so slowly toward his intended mark. Rose's heart

was pounding so hard she could hear it herself as she felt the wetness trickle

down her thighs while she stroked his thick blond hair.

`I can't believe how hot he's made me,` she thought to herself as she tried to

remember the last time she wanted to be fucked this badly. She then noticed how

his purring worked almost like a vibrator as the sound waves traveled from his

vocal chords and straight into her, making it almost impossible to control

herself. She was beginning to feel some what embarrassed by just how excited he

had made her. She went ahead and pulled her leg off the chair so that she could

get her pants off, to let him get to where she needed him to be.

Rose was successful to get at least one of the pant legs off, but that was all

they needed to take it to the next level. Sabretooth didn't hesitate to pull

that thin strip of pink lace away from her and began to lick and tease her with

great delight. Every time his tongue struck her, waves of hot passion coursed

through her body, making every muscle in her body shake and tremble and her

blood turned to hot melted butter.

Suddenly, her leg uncontrollably fell off the chair, making her accidently knock

the remote off the console and it slid across the floor. The remote signal went

to another frequency altogether; a trick she didn't know it could do, causing

one of the monitors to begin relaying a audio signal only. The language coming

over the speaker was course and over baring; positively annoying to say the

least. Sabretooth chuckled a bit, now that he had been distracted from what he

had been doing and wiped his beard clean from her juice.

"That's a real mood breaker, ay?" he noted with displeasure, as he gently nudged

her off the chair.

"Find the remote and turn that crap off," he softly commanded as she dismounted

and he began to remove his boots. He suddenly looked down to see Pandora had

been quietly watching them the whole time.

He grinned broadly at the follow feline, "been enjoying the show?"

Pandora offered him no reply as she sat in her corner studying him closely. Rose

had found the remote but she paused to listen to the voices coming from the

monitor. "You know...I've never heard a language like this; it's..."

She began to snicker a bit. "Like it's from another planet."

By now Sabretooth was standing and unbuckling his belt. He gave her a quick,

half faced smirk as he pulled his belt wide. "You already played that little

game, frail. It was funny the first time..."

She interrupted him with an even louder giggle than before. "This isn't a game

Sabe, I'm serious!"

Sabretooth's natural reaction was to sniff for any sign of fear or uncertainty

in her scent; the typical dead giveaways to sniff for, when someone was

deliberately lying. `Well she believes its from another world anyway.'

But his only response was to just keep undressing, "so what are they saying?

`Take us to your leader?'"

She smirked a bit at his mocking, "No, I..." she relaxed her mind and began to

decipher the awkward, even ugly sounding words coming over the airwaves.

"...I don't think that's it. It sounds like one is already here on earth and the

other is asking if he's had any success."

The now naked Sabretooth quickly took the remote from her hand and turned it

back to the jazz channel.

Rose mused as he stepped in even closer to her, "I thought you were all about--

`saving the world.'"

"Humph, whatever," he began to purr again as he drew her close to him, reaching

down to help her take her pants off completely. He then noticed how she melted

into his chest, listening closely to the sound coming from inside him.

"You like that sound, don't you?" he softly whispered in half surprise as he

briefly recalled the many, many other women who had scolded, even rejected him

for making such loud and annoying noises.

She just nodded her head as she seemed to sink deeper into his hairy chest.

"Mmm-hmm."

His attention was distracted for only a second or two, as he took in the fact

that he may have finally found someone who could accept his unusual, cat-like

quirks; that is until the throbbing, aching feeling, he had between his legs

brought him back to the present.

"So..." Rose pulled back just slightly and reached behind her. She then began to

unsnap the bra and let it fall to the ground.

"What if they ARE planing on taking over the world?" she mocked, the lust in her

own voice gave away how little she too cared for the `world' at this moment.

"I don't care if they come down here tonight and take over the whole fuckin'

planet," Sabretooth softly growled as he helped Rose to the floor.

"I got more...pressing matters to deal with right now," he smiled as he lowered

himself onto her; holding back the urge to ravage her body entirely. He had

every intention on showing this delicate frail just how gentle he could be.

Well...maybe not too gentle.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Sabretooth didn't sleep at all that night, as he lay on his soft pelt of collected furs, stroking Rose's dark hair. He playfully curled her long locks around his thick fingers and pulled his talons gently through the ringlets. He quietly smiled to himself recalling how responsive she had been to his touch; so much so that he simply had to bring her in his private quarters and on top of his furs where he could enjoy her scent for days to come.

Rose on the other hand, was sleeping better than she had in days. She had fallen asleep on his chest listening to his purr of course, and was now softly snoring herself. The feel of her breath blowing against his own fur and skin, made his blood surge and he felt himself starting to rise again. Surely the frail could handle one more round with him; after all, he had made a point to go easy on her. His mind began to envision which position they would try next, but gradually let the idea go when he considered how much she would probably go through once he delivered her to the Professor. He began praising himself for being such a thoughtful kind of guy, to let the frail sleep instead of satisfy him one more time like a good frail should, when that dark cloud that he had been ignoring all night, finally pushed it's way into his head.

'She's was good fuck, that's all; no different than a good meal,' he began to reminded himself; 'A steak is a steak! It don't matter how good it tastes. You eat it, lick your lips and the next time you're hungry, you get another!'

He then recalled his military training and his duty, 'Besides, she's got her place and you got yours.'

He couldn't help but sigh and give himself a disgusted frown, then gently lifted her from his chest and got out of his bed. He looked down at her one last time, while he could still think of her as his would be lover, instead of just another pawn for the faulty. He turned away and got up to shower. It was nearly dawn and had his orders. He would let her sleep just a bit longer before waking her up and telling her she was taking another long trip with him. This time however, they would ride in a helicopter.

'A helicopter?' she thought to herself as she tried to get ready, in spite the fact she was now feeling slightly hung over, sick to her stomach, and completely scared too.

Now more than ever, she began to wonder if she would ever see her family again. Going to Chicago to attend the culinary institute was hard enough on her father; he had warned her about how dangerous the city was and how people went "missing" every day. She had promised him she would be careful and she would be safe; she would keep her secret, just as she had done her whole life. But she had broken that promise, unknowingly and certainly unintentionally, yet it was broken all the same.

She hoped her father was still praying for her, the promise he had made to her; but if present circumstances were any hint, then apparently he had broken his promise too.

Too little sleep, too little peace of mind, Rose's heart was beginning to feel numb and so was her head.

She walked up to the helicopter feeling like she was half dead, and by Sabretooth's grim expression, she imagined she must have looked it. There was a part of her that wanted to jump into his arms, wanted to hear him tell her that he was her guardian angel and he would never let anything happen to her. But, deep inside she was beginning that had never been his intensions. She felt as if she had made a complete fool of herself in front of this..._mutant_.

Suddenly, she hated that word, she hated everyone who was one, herself included. Being a mutant put her in this situation, and being a mutant only meant the situation was not going to change. Feeling trapped and feeling absolutely helpless, she quietly stepped on board the copter and buckled in. Sabretooth offered her no greetings as he started the ignition and set off for their destination. Rose kept her mind on the ground beneath them as they flew over the beautiful Canadian country side. She still had no clue where they were, and as far as she knew they were still in America. Wyoming perhaps?

It was well into the first hour and still no words between them; Rose was beginning to loathe the sound the copter blades made as they traveled through the air. She still had that quasi hung-over feeling and to top it off, she had the unmistakable feeling she was forgetting something. She even wondered if she felt this way because she hadn't called in work to tell Anthony, her boss that she was ...going to need to take some time off. A LOT of time. Twenty years maybe?

Oh well, by now he had already counted her as a no-show, and given her waitress job to someone else.

No that wasn't it. It was something more personal that she was forgetting. Some...one?

"Pandora!" she gasped softly.

"What?" Sabretooth asked gruffly, "you mean your cat?"

"Yeah.." Rose confessed in a guilty voice. "I...I never gave her a thought until now."

"Humph," the felinoid snorted. "Look down behind you."

Rose turned and looked down onto the floor board. There to her surprise was Pandora's carrier and she presumed Pandora was inside. She quickly unbuckled herself and reached behind her to pick up the carrier. Sure enough Pandora was inside, and looking very unhappy to be so.

"How did you get her in?" Rose wondered, somewhat stunned that not only had this brute bothered to bring her pet along, but that he managed to get the cat to cooperate.

Sabretooth furled his brow a little, feeling the question was a bit rhetorical, "I picked her up and put her inside."

"And she didn't scratch you?" she was truly amazed.

"NO!" he was nearly insulted by such an absurd thought, "she knew I would scratch back!"

Rose couldn't help but smile at him which he of course completely ignored. Maybe he was a jerk, but not a complete jerk. There was a long, long pause between them before Rose got the courage to say anything again.

"I've never been in a helicopter before," she softly mentioned, trying to break the ice, but received no response as Sabretooth kept his focus on the sky line with never so much as nodding his head to acknowledge what she had said.

"Do you think I'll get a chance to learn how to fly one of these?" she hoped asking a question would prompted the conversation.

A moment passed, and she assumed he was going to ignore that as well, when he spoke up, in a quiet solemn voice, "You might, but I wouldn't count on it."

She tried to think of something quick to keep the conversation going, but her brain was too fatigued to come up with anything intelligent or witty. Once the moment of opportunity to speak left, she opted to just go back to siting quiet as she contemplated on her dismal future.

She thought maybe mentally singing a song to herself could pass the time and hopefully cheer her up in some way. She tried to remember the last time she went out on Karaoke night and recall some of the songs she had heard. Suddenly, one in particular that came to her mind, a country song by Carrie Underwood. She cringed when she realized how similar the situation she found herself in was, to the lyrics of that song, "...and I don't even know his last name."

'Or his FIRST name!' she exclaimed inside her own head. Then for whatever strange and perverted reason, Rose wondered if her parents had ever done half the things she and this virtual stranger had done the night before. The thought of the respectable Reverend Albert Andrews and his one and only wife of thirty-five years Elizabeth, preforming even one such act was truly and horribly unimaginable. The mental picture she wished she had never conjured, made her suddenly woozy, and if Sabretooth's sudden and short lived chortle was any indication, her face must have shown it.

She thought about sharing her thoughts with him. Who knows, maybe he would find this funny; it was kind of funny in a way.

Maybe she should tell him about her family, maybe she should ask about his.

'Oh God, what if there was a Mrs. Sabretooth somewhere? Do guys like him even have wives?' she wondered. The next thing she knew she was thinking if he _was_ married, did he and his wife do the things they had done?

Again her mind relived what had happened the night before, and again she found herself enjoying those memories. 'Why does being bad, always feel so good?' Rose couldn't help but wonder.

Rose began to seriously consider what her new life was going to be like; and no matter how she tried to spruce it up, what she ended up with, was a life time prison sentence. If there was a hell, she had a feeling she was going to find out before she even died. All because she was a mutant. 'A fine life for a preacher's daughter to end up with,' she sighed just as her stomach growled.

She then realized that the last thing she had put in her stomach was approximately half a bottle of cold beer and before that a little coffee and before that...nothing. Soon her stomach growled again only louder.

Sabretooth heard the noise and responded by reaching into a pocket of his and pulled out a leather pouch. With his teeth, he pulled open the pouch and offered her what was inside. She looked in and saw several small pieces of dried meat. The thought of eating a dead animal made her stomach turn.

"I don't eat meat," she politely but firmly insisted. Sabretooth shot her a harsh glance and shook the leather pouch.

"Take some, you need to eat!" he practically growled at her. But she stubbornly refused.

"No thanks!" she spoke sharply.

"Fine!" he growled angrily and threw the pouch down on the floor.

"Stupid bitch!" he muttered under his breath, but just loud enough for her to hear.

'Wow! He's got a temper,' Rose quietly mused to herself. Even though the name he called her did hurt her feelings somewhat, she thought it amusing that he was upset at her for not taking his food.

More time passed between them with nothing said, as her thoughts kept floating back to the night before. If she wasn't reliving how wonderful Sabretooth made her feel then, only to make her feel like crap now, she was recalling that weird conversation she had heard over the audio frequency.

She hadn't thought much about that strange alien language, but once she quieted her mind, she deliberately began to recall the language. Her instinct was to memorize the syntax of the language, mill it over until she had mastered it. It was a shame she didn't have more of the language to mentally digest, but she had enough to keep herself occupied.

The rest of the time passed slowly for Rose as she set quietly in her seat holding Pandora's carrier on her lap and looking out the window, staring at the trees and mountains. She figured about two hours had passed by the time they landed close to a large partially frozen lake.

As Sabretooth turned of the engine, and opened his door, he calmly commanded, "leave her."

Since he was the one to bring Pandora along, Rose believed she could trust him. She got out of the copter as well, leaving the carier inside.

Together they walked up to what looked like a bomb shelter built inside a hillside and Sabretooth gestured her to go in first. They then walked down a dimly lit corridor and when they came to the end, he opened up the elevator doors with his access code and walked inside.

Down they went, deep into the heart of the man made cavern, the speed of the elevator over took her a bit and the light headiness made her reel on her feet.

"I told you to eat somethin'," Sabretooth quietly muttered as he rolled his eyes and looked up to the ceiling.

Then it came to a sudden stop, making her feel all the more woozy and they stepped out into a massive area where dozens and dozens of people were bustling about. Some in soldier looking uniforms, some in white cloaks.

"Well honey..." Sabretooth turned and grinned sinisterly. "You're home!"


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Sabretooth nudged Rose and obediently she followed him through the large and busy room. Suddenly, three men seemed to walk up to them from no where. One was a bald, thin man with very thick circular glasses and wore a white lab coat. Another one had a reddish beard and somewhat chubby also wearing glasses and wearing a white coat, and the third, was a taller man with salt-pepper hair and wore a black suit; all were frowning.

"The recruit is unrestrained," the bald man coolly, nearly mechanically remarked as he gazed upon Rose then stared hard at Sabretooth.

"Amazing deduction Thorton," Sabretooth quipped, with a snort. "You think if I got a college degree I could be as sharp as you? Don't worry, I'll protect you in case the frail tries to bite."

"Cut the crap," the taller man snapped and stepped up. Sabretooth's reaction was to growl a bit and give the man who he did not know a suspicious look. Immediately, the man began speaking to Rose in a language no one was familiar with.

// So, tell me your name, and I'll see you get treated like a person around here and not a prisoner. //

Rose paused and took a deep breath before answering him in the same language, // My name is Rose Andrews; I was brought here against my will. //

The man broke out in a hardy laugh, and smiled. // I bet you were. So tell me Rose, has there ever been any language that you couldn't master? //

// No, // Rose calmly explained. The man turned his head and gave Thorton and Cornelius an approving nod.

// How about this; can you tell me where this language is spoken? // he continued speaking in the same language.

Rose thought carefully, she knew it was tribal, she was sure of it. But...was she absolutely positive?

// Is it..tribal? // she timidly asked, still using the same language he had used.

The man stopped smiling; his face grew dark, // There's no room for guesses, girl! Now tell me where this language comes from! //

Rose ignored the ache inside the pit in her stomach and cleared her mind. She had narrowed it down to two possibilities; but which one it actually was...? She just wasn't 100% sure.

// It's from one of the remote areas along the Amazon River, // she made her sure her voice sounded confident and strong in spite the fact that she had really only guessed.

The man was smiling again. He then motioned for the two other men to step aside for a private conversation. As they quietly talked, Rose glanced over to Sabretooth, only to find him not there any more.

"Follow us, Miss Andrews," the chubby man said as they turned and started walking toward another hallway. She looked around for only a second; she was on her own.

Really on her own.

They all walked into a quiet room, apparently someone's office. The tall man offered her a seat and some bottled water to drink, which she gratefully accepted and immediately began to chug down.

"I want you to take a listen to this, and tell me what it says," the man said in english. He opened a brief case, and took out a black box. He then opened the box, and removed a devise she had never seen before. A hand sized, turquoise colored crystal obelisk, and set it in front of her.

"This is how we get activate it," he mentioned as he tapped the bottom of the obelisk onto the desk and automatically, a voice, probably that of a female, blasted from the alien devise. Instantly, Rose recognized this alien language as the same she heard from the night before. Immediately she was able to translate every word she heard coming from the devise and she openly relayed the translation with ease.

This is what it said:

// To any intelligent life forms currently located on this planet. It is our pleasure to extend our hand in friendship, as we welcome you to our family of unified solar systems, located in the great and glorious A'Roohan Empire. //

// Please do not be alarmed, we are merely offering you the opportunity of a life time, as it as come to our attention that your planet as of yet, has not publicly declared which kingdom to vow its loyalty to. This may be due in part that your solar system is not located in a well traveled quadrant of this galaxy, or that your currently primitive state of technology has not given you the right credentials to consider your planet worthy before now. Even though you are very small, and will be used mostly as an out post for our fleets but little else, we want to assure you that we find your planet and it's inhabitants very valuable and very much in need of our protection. //

// We understand that some among you may wish to stay as an independent society, but we strongly advice you to consider otherwise. As our records show your planet's defenses to resist a global domination is archaic, inadequate and too feeble compared to the many, more advanced civilizations here in the A'Roohan Empire. //

// In conclusion, we realize that you have multiple governments and leaders to consider, and may require some time to come to agreement on this matter. We will allow your world to revolve around it's sun once before we contact you again so that we may discuss our terms for peace. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.//

Rose finished her translating and smiled, "Well at least they're polite."

The three men said nothing as they left her alone in the room. Rose sat there quietly, looking around the office for something interesting to catch her eye. Just then to her surprise, Sabretooth casually opened a door from the other side of the room and walked inside. He threw a small bag of peanuts to her which she caught them in mid-air and quickly opened it up.

"Thanks," she gleefully said as she took a handful and shoved them into her mouth.

"So, what's going on?" she asked him between handfuls of peanuts.

Sabretooth was now leaning comfortably against the wall and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know; but the fact that no one has told me to you drop you yet, is a good sign."

Rose didn't need him to explain what, 'drop her,' obviously meant.

"Yeah, good sign," she remarked dryly and sighed before finishing off the bag of peanuts her gave her.

xxx

The three men stood outside the office, arguing about what to do. "There's no way we can use her!"

Thorton insisted once more. "She hasn't been assimilated, or even had her memory wiped. It would be impossible to keep her under control."

"None of that matters!" the taller man said. "We need someone who can speak to these creatures for us right now, and she's perfect for the job."

"We have computers to do that for us!" Thorton argued on. "Our computers were able to translate that message just as clearly as she did."

"But it took them seven months to decipher that message and it took her what? Seven seconds?" the man argued back. "No, I say she's the one!"

Thorton looked to Cornelius for support, but the chubby man just kept shifting his eyes around and bit is lip. "Well...she did speak up very quickly, and at least we can say she's expendable."

Thorton's face grew dark and his lip curled. "Putting any mutant into this kind of position, without any kind of assurance of her loyalty is foolhardy. It's bad enough that we are forced to bring outside mutants to this conference. Our people on this mission need obedient and compliant."

"Then just put a muzzle on her," the man snapped in frustration. "Because I'm taking her."

They all went back to the room where they had left Rose. "Congratulations, you got the job."

Rose sighed and tried to smile, "That's...nice? Can I call my family now?"

"No," Cornelius flatly denied her request.

"You don't have time to call anyone, Rose..." the man quickly added. "And, oh by the way, your code name is...Rosetta; Rosetta Stone. That's the name you'll go by from now on."

The man then turned and quietly gloated, "I just thought of that."

"Rosetta Stone," she repeated softly and put her hands to her head. More than ever, she was certain she had lost her mind.

Inwardly, Thorton was surprised to see Sabretooth waiting for them in the room, but it happened to work to the Professor's advantage that he was.

"You'll be joining..._Rosetta Stone_," he said her new name in a mocking tone. "She will need a body guard during the negotiations, and since you are already here..."

"N-negotiations?" Rose abruptly interrupted the professor, now that she understood what her job would be, "You want me to meet with the aliens?"

"Not by yourself, dear," the man assured her though a bit roughly. "You'll be part of a team we have put together to talk with them and see what the hell is going on."

Rose nodded, trying desperately to accept all this with grace and dignity. She realized this was an important job. She reminded herself how her father had told her God gave her this gift for a reason. Maybe this was that reason.

"So, where is this meeting taking place?" she bravely asked.

"We're not sure," the man openly admitted.

Rose was finding it hard to stay brave. "Y-you're not sure."

"No well, we have a clue where it is, they did send us the coordinates; it's just half a galaxy away," he explained then helped her out of her seat. "So we know _where_ it is, just not what you can expect when you get there."

Rose began to shake a little as they walked out of the room, as he held her hand to help her keep balance. Everyone else in the room, followed quietly from behind. Rose wasn't even able to feel her feet as they walked down another long dimly lit corridor her voice started to tremble, "so, how are we getting there?"

"Well they were kind enough to send us a highly advanced molecular scrambling, teserect, or worm hole, creating devise. Ever see a show called Stargate?" the man explained with enthusiasm.

"It's a lot like that," he concluded as the elevator door opened and they all stepped inside. Rose nodded, feeling very much like fainting.

"Well actually it's a combination between the transporter they had in Star Trek and the gate they had in Stargate," he explained in more detail.

Rose nodded, pretending to hear. "I-I see. When exactly will we leave?" she wondered, still not sure if any of this was real or not.

"The first step is, to get you to our headquarters in America, where the main transporter unit is," he calmly assured her as they stepped out of the elevator and walked toward a platform that to Sabretooth, looked very much like the same mechanism they used to rely the holograms. In a small glass cased in booth, a man in a white coat stood behind a small console smiling and wavy.

"So we're NOT in America now?" she seemed surprised.

"Well of course not?" the man nearly laughed. "What made you think we were?"

"I-I'm not sure...I'm not really sure about anything right now," she woefully confessed.

"We're ready sir," the man in the booth eagerly announced over an intercom, to the group.

"Now Rose, please step up here, this unit is too small for all of us to travel at once," the man explained with a soft smile. Still in a daze, Rose stood up onto the platform and looked around as the man let go of her hand.

"Now you want to be very still Rose," he added; otherwise your arm could end up somewhere on the middle of your back. We don't want that."

Rose thought about answering, but was too scared to move. she didn't dare move a muscle. He then turned his head and nodded to the man behind the glass. In a second she vanished into thin air.

"Where is she now?" Dr. Cornelius wondered, sounding just a bit nervous.

The man in the booth, called out on the intercom, "she's already in DC; they say the trial was a success."

"Excellent," the tall man in the black suit smiled. "Now, who's next?"

Without hesitation, both Thorton and Cornelius pointed to Sabretooth. The felinoid showed not the slightly hint of emotion as he proudly stepped onto the platform and turned to give them both a cold glare. A second later, he too vanished and once again the man behind the booth declared success.

"No...wait," he suddenly interrupted his own announcement. "They're saying that the mutant we just sent, is now fighting with another mutant that was already there."

Both Thorton gave Cornelius a very alarmed look. "You don't suppose..."


	11. Chapter 11

**DUE TO MUCH INSISTING FROM CRAZED WOLVERINE FANS, I HAVE FOUND A WAY TO INCLUDE HIM INTO THIS STORY.**

**THE STORY LINE DOES TAKE A SIDE TRACK, (I'M GOING TO INFUSE ANOTHER STORY IDEA WITH THIS ONE,) BUT I PROMISE WE WILL GET BACK TO THE WEAPON X SCENARIO. HOPE YOU ENJOY!**

CHAPTER 11

"You!" Sabretooth gave a deafening roar, and leapt off the platform and across the room.

"You want some, come and get it!" Wolverine happily replied as he stretched out his bulky arms. *SNIKT*

"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" Beast insisted with urgency. But, neither feral listened to him as their bodies clashed and fur started flying. Literally! The room they were in was spacious, but not nearly spacious enough for two wild men going after each others throats. Chairs were broken, and computers hit the floor as Sabretooth and Wolverine grappled about.

"We need to show a little more civility!" Beast yelled once again as everyone else in the room backed away, including the few MRD guards standing guard over Senator Kelly. That is, until the Senator ordered them to intervene. Suddenly, both ferals were shot with super charged tazzors, that could have easily lit up the Las Vegas strip with one zap.

"Argh!" both men yelled as they fell to the ground, stunned and grabbing their chests.

"Gentlemen," Beast once more tried to reason with them. "Whatever contentions you two may have, will have to be set aside!"

Logan looked around the room for a second as he regained his senses. With the exception of Beast who was trying to help him up, the others in the room stayed well away. Standing around the room, grant it from a distance, was Senator Kelly, four MRD guards, Magneto, who was accompanied by Mystique, Sabretooth who was just barely able to sit up now, and another woman, a fellow mutant by her scent, who had begun to hyperventilate. "Does..." _pant, pant, "_...does anybody have a p-p-pap..." _pant, pant, "_...pap-paper bag?"

"How utterly predictable!" Magneto rolled his eyes and groaned in disgust.

"Weren't you informed to leave all weapons behind, Senator Kelly? Or was it only meant for mutants to come here unarmed?"

"Don't try to pretend you are _unarmed_ Magneto! Each of you mutants here is capable of doing as much or more destruction as any man-made weapon!" Kelly argued back.

Just then, the man who had given Rose the job as translator, appeared on the same platform she and Sabretooth had come from. "Where's the war!? The tech geek running the console said there was a war in here!"

"My men have it under control now, Agent W," Senator Kelly arrogantly declared. "I told you, we are only asking for trouble by having these...these _mutants..."_

Kelly spat the word, "...tag along on such a delicate undertaking."

The tall man in the black suit just sighed, shaking his head, "Kelly, Kelly, Kelly; we have our reasons for asking these..._people,"_

Agent W stressed the word to contradict Senator Kelly's opinion, "...to take part in these discussions. So, if you have a problem working with mutants, then recuse yourself at once so I can get someone more...tolerant take your place. Alright..."

Agent W looked around the room, "Who here needs introductions? Everyone, this young lady is Rose, our translator."

He caught sight of Rose who was now bent over hanging onto her knees. "Oh hon, just hold your breath and count to ten, you'll be fine."

"Standing next to her is Beast," Agent W continued the introductions.

"Then we have Magneto the current ruler of Genosha and his assistant Mystique, Senator Kelly along with his goons, and those two on the floor, are Wolverine and

Sabretooth."

"Now I can't stress how important this mission is. If we are to survive as a free and independent world, everyone here _must_ cooperate with one another and keep in mind this is a _diplomatic mission_; nothing else. Each of you, even the two on the floor, are here because you represent a specific sector of this planet's population. Now, I can't stress enough how important it is that none of you try to play the hero while you are on this mission. It is your duty, each and everyone of you to _JUST_ listen, be polite, make nice with these alien yahoos . You are not to make any deals with them until you come back here and tell us what the hell is going on. I repeat, you are to just listen to their demands and then politely tell them we'll get back with them."

"What assurance have we, that once we go to this world of theirs..." Magneto interrupted, "...that they will allow us to return?"

"Well at the moment," Agent W. flatly explained. "we don't have any assurance."

He then continued with his briefing, "yes, ladies and gentlemen, there _is_ life on other planets, lots of other planets in fact, and it just happens that some of them have decided to come down here and try to bully us around. Luckily we have had some help from some of our allies, our resident E.T.s have you, and they have informed us that even though the A'Roohan Empire may be far more advanced in technologically, their civilization is caught up in so much bureaucracy and ancient customs that they aren't nearly as threatening as they would like to think."

"Resident E.T.s?" Kelly asked suspiciously. "Are you telling us that we have aliens from outer space living here on earth already?"

"Yes, Senator Kelly, that's exactly what I'm telling you," the snarky agent sharply answered then continued on. "So, we need to select a leader among you; the one who will do most of the talking on everyone's behalf."

Kelly, arrogantly stepped up. "Considering that I am the one who represents the majority of those on our planet, I nominate myself for the job."

Magneto was not hearing any of it though. "Senator Kelly, you are nothing but a squeaky wheel in a elaborate democrat machine. The mere fact that you would look out solely for the interests of your _own_ kind and no other, automatically disqualifies you from this position. Why, I would rather have Wolverine in charge the you!"

Agent W paid no attention to the squabbling two, but instead directed his attention to the one he had already chosen for the job. "Beast, would you do us the honors of taking on this responsibility?"

Suddenly, both Magneto and Kelly fell deathly quiet as all eyes turned on Beast who humbly smiled and cleared his throat. "I would be glad to Agent W."

Agent W. then started walking to the door which was on the other side of the room. "Now the lil' honey of a transporter each of you got to try out, is our own design, based on the one the A'Roohans 'graciously' provided to us so that we can meet with them on one of their controlled worlds. As you are all aware of, ours can only transport one being at a time however, while there's can take as many as twenty beings at once. We still haven't figured out to unscramble the molecules of more than one being at a time, then reanimate them back to their proper shape and form. We'd _REALLY_ like to have that little detail figured out first."

"Has anyone actually traveled to this other world, before now?" Beast anxiously wondered as everyone casually made their way to the door.

"No, because in order for the thing to work, it has to be activated from the other side, which the damn A'Roohan's haven't obliged!" Agent W explained as he walked backward toward he door. "However yesterday..."

He opened the door behind him, "...that all changed."

The room they walked into was easily five stories high and three football fields long. Dozens of people all wearing white coats filled the room, dutifully paying attention to the computers and reading charts.

'Oh great,' Rose groaned to herself. 'Another big room with people in white coats are running around.'

In the center of the room, was a large octagon shaped platform, and everyone correctly presumed this was the transporter they would use to travel across the galaxy. Agent W. seemed almost proud of the alien toy as he went on to explain things in more detail. "Yesterday, everything came on, the whole darn sha-bang just lit up and started to purr. also, the A'Roohan's sent us a new message. So, Rose, would you please..."

Suddenly Rose felt all eyes on her, as she slowly walked over to Agent W. He kindly spun a stationary chair around, which was set in front of a computer and offered it to her. "Just hit the right click button on the mouse to hear the recording."

She noticed he had an unusually sly grin on his face as she sat down, but didn't understand why, until she heard the new message. "This isn't the same language," she remarked she concentrated on what she heard coming from the computer's speakers.

"We think they're trying to find out how clever we are. So," Agent W's smile broadened, "...how clever are we?"

Rose felt her face flush a bit, then she turned her full attention back to the message. She listened until it was over and turned back to look at Agent W. "Well, they say they are ready to meet with us, and to help our team prepare for the journey, they are sending an ambassador who will arrive shortly after we send a reply."

"OK," Agent W then reached over and tapped a couple of keys on the computer's keyboard. "Hold this button down, and speak into the mic. Go ahead and tell them that we have received their message and that we welcome their Ambassador to our world."

At first, Rose started to nervously lick her lips. she was starting to lose her confidence, and losing it fast. She forced herself to focus on the task at hand and took a deep cleansing breath. She then calmly spoke into the mic, and relayed the message word for word in the alien language. When she finished, she felt strangely good about herself

and suddenly began to feel like she may really belong there, in spite how she _recruited_.

"How long does will take to get a message to and from them?" Rose wondered as she sat back in her chair.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll get this some time today." Agent W seemed confident.

"_Some time today?_" Wolverine spoke up. "And what are we supposed to do while we wait? Just stand around?"

"You got any other plans for today hot-shot?" Agent W patronized somewhat. No one seemed pleased by Agent W's response but knew there was little else to do.

"Can I call my family _NOW_?" Rose hoped this would be a good time to call.

"What would you tell them? That their world is about to be taken over by aliens?" Agent W mocked.

"No, I would tell them I'm fine, that I..."

"We have people to do that for you hon," he insisted as he patted her on the back. "You have more important things to do, now that you're on my team."

"Your team!?" Sabretooth who was standing close behind suddenly barked. "Don't forget, the frail's on loan, bub!"

"Sure, sure," Agent W merely hushed him up with a wave. "I keep forgetting that some of you think your fellow mutants are more like your personal possessions."

He basically brushed Sabretooth off completely and tapped on some of the keys on the computer keyboard, "Let's get you familiar with some of the other languages you may encounter out there."

But Rose wasn't in the mood any more to play his games. "No!" she flatly refused.

"I need to let my family know I'm alright! That's all I'm asking for," she pleaded her case. "Please...Just to let them know I'm not laying dead in some gutter."

Agent W's face softened and he sighed a little. He slowly pulled out his Blackberry and handed it to her. Instantly Sabretooth started to growl, mostly to himself. He was beginning to wonder if Rose was really worth the fight. If the damn doctor wanted her so badly, he sure as hell didn't object to handing her over; so...why should he ruffle his fur over losing her? Then again, it just felt like he was having something that rightfully belonged to him, just being taken away. His growling became louder by the moment.

"What's wrong sport?" Agent W, turned and gave him a mockingly concerned look.

"She don't need to call her family!" The felinoid fervently insisted through a low grating voice, "...and I hate to be called, 'sport!' "

"Oh don't worry, I've got it under control, champ," Agent W assured him in that condescending tone of his.

By now, Rose had dialed her parent's number and was waiting for someone to pick up. But just as she feared, all she got was their answering machine. "...At the sound of the tone, please leave a message...beep..."

"Mom!" Rose yelped out, she then looked around at all the strange faces staring at her. "I um...I'm fine. I wanted you to know that...nothing..._BAD_ has happened to me anyway."

She then broke out in a nervous laugh. She knew if she told them what had really happened to her in the past couple of days, they would think this was the _worst_ thing ever to happen to her.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know I'm OK..." Suddenly Sabretooth grabbed the Blackberry away from her.

"There, she called! Happy now!?" he gave both her and Agent W stern, harsh glares. Agent W's response was to hold his hand out for his Blackberry while Rose simply relaxed in her chair and let go a deep sigh of relief.

"Guess your folks are _real_ worried about you, if all you got was their answering machine," he meanly taunted her with a sneer.

"Maybe they're out looking for me?" she angrily snapped back. Just then, a man wearing a white coat, quickly walked up.

"Sir, we have an incoming message from the A'Roohan's." Agent W. nodded his head.

"Go ahead and play it over the intercom," he looked at Rose and smiled.

"Guess you don't have time to learn any other languages, darlin." Soon, a loud voice in the first alien language she had heard came booming over the intercom. As the message came through Rose translated it word for word.

//Greetings! We have received your transmission and are pleased at your eagerness to cooperate. Our Ambassador is on his way and will arrive within a few...// Rose paused since there wasn't a completely accurate match in the english language

//...moments,// she decided to go with.

"Alright; Beast, Rose..." Agent W turned to them and smiled. "Are you ready to go to work?"


	12. Chapter 12

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

**When I started this fic, i wasn't planning to go in this direction. However, it has been two years since I wrote my last fic, and this could possible be the last fic I ever write. So...I thought I'd have all the fun I possible can with this one. I'm including some character I have never written before and this may be my only chance to. I sincerely believe I can pull this off and make it entertaining. Well I hope I can.**

**I've added more OCs to the story, and this chapter is where we meet most of them. **

**But I promise you, the rest of the fic does focus on the Marvel mutants we so love.**

**I had a couple of friends ask me how to pronounce some of the OCs names, so here is a guide to help with that.**

**MAI = May **

**A'ROOHAH = (soft) a -ROO -hah**

**ZSHIM = Think of the word Asia. Now take away both "A sounds" in the word, and you end up with a soft J sound. That's what the Zsh sound makes.**

CHAPTER 12

Everyone couldn't help but feel the sense of excitement as they prepared to meet the Ambassador from another world. Agent W. escorted Beast and Rose to the foot of the platform, where they quietly stood, waiting for their honored guest. The rest of the group stood behind them and curiously looked on, not knowing exactly what to expect or when to expect it.

Only Wolverine and Sabretooth could make out a faint, almost invisible pink hue, that formed and swirled over the platform. Then in the blink of an eye, appeared four alien beings standing in a diamond formation.

Each one of them appeared to be a different species; The one who stood closest to the ramp, was a short and staunchly reptilian being. It stood about 4ft and looked more like a turtle than anything else. It did not wear any clothing over it's brownish scaly skin; mostly due to his brownish shell, did a well enough job of protecting him from the elements. The shell had many intricate designs painted al over, and wore gold chains and bracelets. Dozens of them in fact; around his neck, his arms, and even legs. His stoic face and features made him a hard to read character, and Beast wondered if the creature was even unable to show facial expressions due to the shape of his mouth, eyes and scaly skin.

Another alien, that was standing on the left side of the platform, was mostly human in appearance with crimson red skin. Her eyes were a soft shade of a lilac and long indigo colored hair. She wore a long hooded black cloak and gold slippers encrusted with what looked like emeralds and diamonds. Her facial expression was actually pleasant and friendly-like, as she gently smiled to those looking at her from the ramp and beyond.

The alien standing on the right, appeared to be nearly human; a really_ hot_ human male Rose thought to herself. He stood about 6 1/2 ft tall and very well defined muscles. His hair was jet black with white streaks throughout, and Rose noticed it flared up and out very much the same way Logan's did, except his was much longer, past his shoulders in fact, so it folded around his large pointed, hair covered ears. His whole body was hairy from the looks of it and if his species shaved, then his salt and pepper goatee was intentional. He stood proudly with his right hand hand on his ornate sword as it rested in its sheath laying comfortably on his hip. He wore black boots, a black pair of parachute looking trousers made from some kind of sleek material, and a vest of the same material, leaving his broad and hairy chest exposed.

Finally in the rear, stood a creature that was well over 8ft tall. Rose imagined that if a Siberian tiger would stand erect on it's hind legs, and put on a suit of armor, this is what it would look like. A fierce and intimidating looking creature to say the least. His short, white with black stripes fur, shined a healthy glow and his silver and gold armor seemed to twinkle as the light would hit it just so.

Upon seeing the party had arrived, Beast fearlessly spoke up, "Greetings to all of you; I am Hank McCoy, your...host and this is Rose, who will be translating our conversation as we go along. Welcome to our planet earth, and it is our hope that you intentions are peaceful."

Rose went ahead and began the translation but was suddenly interrupted by the small turtle looking alien. He spoke in the same language she had heard coming from the obelisk.

//I cannot rise my head,// he said in a smooth, somewhat slow yet arrogant tone. //You will have to come down here and speak to me face to face.//

Without explaining to Beast, she went ahead on her own and got down on the floor sitting in front of the creature face to face just like he said. But the creature just stared at her for a moment. Again he spoke to Rose in a very slow, but unmistakably snobbish way of speech. //Why are you, who is obviously an underling, appearing before me?//

Rose tried hard no to be offended, and did her best to reply in a polite tone, //...because you asked me to.//  

//I did not!// the turtle yelled, or by his standards he yelled, but to the rest the humans in the room it sounded a bit insipid. //I told to the blue furry creature standing there speaking to me. He must lower himself before me for these discussions to continue on.//

//Oh, sorry,// Rose tried to apologize.

"Uh Hank..." she looked to Beast, as she started to stand. "He says he can't rise his head, and is asking that you lower yourself so that he can talk to you face to face."

Rose tried to stand, but the creature put his stubby hand on her shoulder, //I did not tell you to get up! I'm still talking to you. Now...//

Just then Hank, humbly approached the creature and sat on the floor as well, but realized that the creature was still in conversation with Rose. //...why were you made translator? You obviously have never done this before!//

Rose suddenly was reminded of all the old coots she had waited on her last job! //You're right, I haven't done this job before, and I haven't had so much as one minute of training. But the truth is there isn't anyone else available for the job! I'm the only one who can speak your language, _your highness_.//

For a moment, the creature just looked at Rose with his dull dreary eyes. //Very well; I suppose you'll do.//

"May I ask, are you the ambassador?" Beast politely asked the creature.

//No, I am not. I am one of his adviser's, I am on Empress' A'Roohah's counsel, and a elder on my world; my name is...// and he proceeded with a sequence of clicking sounds.

He then reached in his pocket and pulled out a small rectangular box and held it out to Beast. //As a token or friendship, I offer you this device; it has a recording of my home planet's oldest and most critically acclaimed opera.//

Rose did her best to translate, including his name which of course had no english equivalency. Beast nodded and graciously accepted the gift.

"That you," and he proceeded to repeat the sequence of clicks that was the creature's name. "Your gift is much appreciated."

The creature seemed pleased with the proceedings thus far and he slightly turned to the red-skinned woman on the left who stepped up to speak. Both Hank and Rose stood up to meet the alien woman properly.

She too held out her hand, holding out an encased tube of some sort. The woman spoke up in a soft and gentle voice in her native tongue.

//My name is Mai, I am on her highness' counsel as well; I would like to offer your world this gift from my world, Pai-cha. A cure for cancer.//

Rose was able to translate this too, which pleased Mai very much. Hank also accepted her gift with great joy. "Thank you Mai, this gift of yours is much appreciated."

Then the dark haired gentleman who had been standing on the right, swaggered up to Rose, seeming to ignore Hank altogether. //I am the Ambassador's half-brother, Zshim and here is my gift to you.//

He reached inside one of his pant leg pockets, and retrieved the most exquisite flower Rose had ever seen. It was about the size and shape of a common rose, but it glittered and sparkled a luminescent light as it seemed to change its color moment by moment.

"I've never seen anything so beautiful," Rose couldn't help but speak out in english with a gasp. Zshim then leaned down, looking straight into Rose's eyes and handed her the flower.

//This is an Eternity Bloom, the rarest flower in the galaxy; once the pedals open, they never die or fade,// the suave alien leaned closely to her as she took the flower from his hand.

//My mother was human,// he quietly mentioned, as if to brag about the news, while she instinctively put the flower to her nose and sniffed. But sadly, there was no scent.

//This is extraordinary! thank you,// Rose's eyes twinkled for a moment along with the Eternity Bloom, almost forgetting that the 'gift' wasn't intended for her alone.

Zshim now stood up straight and spoke to Hank, //I would now like to introduce you to my half-brother, General K'Towjin.//

Zshim graciously turned to look at his brother who was the 8ft tiger-man standing in the back. The smaller brother bowed his head in honor and the larger one stepped forward to give Rose a close look.

Suddenly, the tiger-man leaned down, and licked her on the cheek, but his large thick tongue smacked her mouth anyway. Rose just stood there for a second, not sure if the Ambassador had just kissed her, or was tasting her. She noticed he was still slumped over, looking at her; face to face, as if expecting something in return. The idea of reaching behind his ear and scratching it, and calling him a good kitty just didn't seem like the right thing to do to an Ambassador from another world; yet...there he was in her face, obviously expecting her to do _something_. So, she licked him back, square on his big black nose.

The cat-like beast rose back to his full size, with a stern look that Rose swore was indignation. She felt like she was about to cry that very moment, fearing that her foolish actions may have just spelled doom for her planet, when suddenly he broke out in a hardy laugh. The sound of it reminded her of Sabretooth's laugh as he put his hands on his hips and leaned back, roaring in laughter.

//I am with good people, yes?// his loud voice echoed throughout the room.

Rose was very relieved and eager to rely this to Hank, who in turn, smiled and nodded his head. "I am glad you feel this way, Ambassador K'Towjin. Would you care to meet the rest of the us who are representing Earth's people?"

The tiger-man nodded his head and complied by walking down the ramp to meet the rest of the team. He was closely followed by the rest of his coterie, who formed a single line behind him to meet Earth's team as well. Hank began with, Agent W. "This gentleman is agent W. he is our coordinator for the team."

Suddenly, it seemed that the normally chatty Agent W, had little to say as he merely nodded his head and offered his hand in friendship.

"Next we have Mystique," Hank _dare not_ to call her by her birth name. The ambassador paused for a moment and looked on at the blue skinned humanoid.

//You are both, mutants?// he asked curiously asked.

Rose translated his question, to which Mystique proudly answered. "I am."

"We are," Hank quickly added. "In fact most on this committee are mutants."

K'Towjin seemed pleased by this news. //This mutations on earth...it is not like so on other worlds. All other worlds move...ah, I'll say so slowing up the evolution scale. Some of our worlds have seemed to stop completely. Like Bob's.//

"Bob, you say?" Hank repeated after hearing the translation. "Who is Bob?"

The Ambassador merely turned at looked at the turtle like creature standing last in the line. //He is Bob. I cannot say his name. So, I call him Bob.//

"May we call him Bob?" Hank asked since his name was quite difficult to pronounce.

//Of course you may, he likes the name.// K'Towjin happily obliged even though the turtle-like creature gave a positive groan of indignation.

"Next is Erik Lensherr, he is the leader of a nation of mutants," The tiger-man stood proudly before the mutant nation's leader and gave an obviously approving look to which Erik smiled back.

//Then you must be a mutant too?//

"I am in deed," Magneto proudly admitted. "Welcome to our planet, Ambassador."

//I can see the heart of a warrior in you, Air-r-rik,// the tiger-man tried to pronounce his name. //Your nation must be very formidable.//

Magneto merely smiled, "We focus our efforts on peace and tolerance however;"

He couldn't help but shoot a quick and surly look at Kelly, "We are prepared to defend ourselves if needed."

K'Towjin seemed to impressed with Erik's comments, and gave a nod before meeting the next Earther.

"This is Senator Kelly, who is here on behalf of the human population," Hank kindly explained. Instantly, Kelly reached out his hand out of politeness, but the tone of his voice gave away his reservations.

"Ambassador..." Kelly coolly said and nothing else. However, the Ambassador didn't seem to object, considering he merely walked passed the Senator with barely a nod.

Finally they came to Logan and Sabe, "Ambassador, I would like to introduce you to Logan and..."

Hank suddenly realized he only knew the felinoid by his code name, "...and Sabretooth."

The ambassador stood there, eyeing both ferals very closely, looking especially hard at Sabretooth's adamantium arm bands. Finally he spoke something to Rose who seemed to blush after hearing it.

"Uh, Sabretooth..." Rose went on to explain. "The Ambassador says he admires your arm bands, even if they're only half the size of his and he, um...admires your virility."

Sabretooth shifted his feet a little and cocked his head, "My virility? How come?"

Rose blushed even more when she got the Ambassador's answer. "He says, it's because he can smell you all over me...and he can smell you all over..."

She quickly pointed her finger at Logan. "...him."

At first, neither Logan or Sabe could think of anything to say; they just growled a bit while Logan turned the most brilliant shade of red.

"W-w-would you like me to explain to him why that is so?" Rose offered with a friendly smile.

Logan's teeth were tightly clinched. "Oh yes, _please_ do!"

Rose began to explain to the ambassador that the two men had been in hand to hand combat just a short while ago, only to have the ambassador snort and give both feral's a disapproving look before turning his speaking to his entourage.

"What was _that_ all about?" Logan asked Rose furiously. At first, she thought about not answering, but finally decided to just tell them and get it over with.

She took a deep breath and bit her lip a little. "Well, he says that neither of you must be any good at hand to hand combat, otherwise at least one of you would have the marks to show for your fight."

The two ferals just stood there, insulted to the core.

"Tell him we're fast healers!" Logan insisted rather urgently.

But Hank just gave them both a sympathizing look, "Sorry about that, gentlemen."

General K'Towjin then walked back up the plank. //Men and women of Earth; I come to you on my Empress' behalf. She understands your world had been relatively sheltered from most of this galaxy's dangers, simply because of your location. But now that your world has become an interest to Spineless Ones, she feels that it is in your best interest and hers, if you come under her rule while you still have a chance.//

Senator Kelly nervously interrupted, "what...or, who exactly are the Spineless Ones?"

Rose looked to Hank for permission translate. Beast quietly nodded, interested in hearing the answer.

K'Towjin seemed displeased with being interrupted but kept a civil tongue, //The Spineless Ones feel their only purpose in life is to rule over those with spines. But do not under estimate them. They are more powerful than their appearance would lead you to believe and once they have taken control over a world, like this one for instance, all hope for that world and it's people are lost. They will take you away by force, and turn most of you into servants; many will die for their amusement. _They_ do not kill, but they enjoy watching others kill for them.//

//Empress A'Roohah has outlawed the arena blood sports these Spineless Ones so thoroughly enjoy, and wishes to have nothing with such vile creatures. It is her wish to stop the Spineless Ones from taking over any more worlds and this is why she has sent us here. Now I wish to take each of you to her highness' palace so you can meet with Empress A'Roohah and see for yourself how well you would be treated if you came under our protection.//

"In deed," Erik now spoke up. "What assurance have we that once we leave here, you will allow us to return?"

Beast allowed Rose to translate this question too, but he was beginning to wonder if anyone on the team was ever going to let him do his job.

//You have my word as a warrior and a noblemen, that each of you will return unharmed,// was all K'Towjin offered.

For a second or two there was a odd, awkward moment of silence, before Wolverine took action. He simply pushed Sabretooth aside and started walking up the platform, "So all we do is get on one of these red circles right?"

The tiger-man seemed to enjoy Logan's zeal for the mission and began to encourage the other Earthers else to join their comrade on the platform. Beast was the next to get on one of the circles, then the others gradually walked on, including Rose, who was now beginning to feel quite ready for the adventure.

Once all were onboard, K'Towjin nodded to Bob, who reached inside his pocket and retrieved what looked like a simple remote. He punched in some code and moments later, they all simply disappeared into the thin air, except for the MRD guards who were left standing on the platform.


End file.
